Most often taken in pill form, it is usually taken orally once or twice a day. In the ICU setting, chlorothiazide is given to diurese a patient in addition to furosemide (Lasix). Working in a separate mechanism than furosemide, and absorbed enterically as a reconstituted suspension administered through a nasogastric tube (NG tube), the two drugs potentiate one another.

The Research team of Merck Sharp and Dohme Research Laboratories: Karl H. Beyer, Jr., M.D., Ph.D.; James M. Sprague, Ph.D.; John E. Baer, Ph.D.; and Frederick C. Novello, Ph.D. created a new series of medications, the thiazide diuretics, which includes chlorothiazide. They won an Albert Lasker Special Award in 1975 for its creation. http://www.laskerfoundation.org/awards/formaward.htm